---
layout: docs
page_title: 'Configuration Entry Kind: Service Defaults'
description: >-
  The service-defaults config entry kind controls default global values for a
  service, such as its protocol.
---

# Service Defaults

-> **v1.8.4+:** On Kubernetes, the `ServiceDefaults` custom resource is supported in Consul versions 1.8.4+.<br />
**v1.5.0+:** On other platforms, this config entry is supported in Consul versions 1.5.0+.

The `service-defaults` config entry kind (`ServiceDefaults` on Kubernetes) controls default global values for a
service, such as its protocol.

## Sample Config Entries

### Default protocol

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="HCL">

Set the default protocol for a service in the default namespace to HTTP:

```hcl
Kind      = "service-defaults"
Name      = "web"
Namespace = "default"
Protocol  = "http"
```

</Tab>
<Tab heading="Kubernetes YAML">

Set the default protocol for a service in the default namespace to HTTP:

```yaml
apiVersion: consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1
kind: ServiceDefaults
metadata:
  name: web
spec:
  protocol: http
```

</Tab>
</Tabs>

### Upstream configuration <sup>Beta</sup>

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="HCL">

Set default connection limits and mesh gateway mode across all upstreams
of "counting" and also override the mesh gateway mode used when dialing
the "dashboard" service in the "frontend" namespace.

```hcl
Kind = "service-defaults"
Name = "counting"

UpstreamConfig = {
  Defaults = {
    MeshGateway = {
      Mode = "local"
    }
    Limits = {
      MaxConnections = 512
      MaxPendingRequests = 512
      MaxConcurrentRequests = 512
    }
  }

  Overrides = [
    {
      Name = "dashboard"
      MeshGateway = {
        Mode = "remote"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

</Tab>
<Tab heading="HCL (Consul Enterprise)">

Set default connection limits and mesh gateway mode across all upstreams
of "counting" and also override the mesh gateway mode used when dialing
the "dashboard" service in the "frontend" namespace.

```hcl
Kind = "service-defaults"
Name = "counting"
Namespace = "product"

UpstreamConfig = {
  Defaults = {
    MeshGateway = {
      Mode = "local"
    }
    Limits = {
      MaxConnections = 512
      MaxPendingRequests = 512
      MaxConcurrentRequests = 512
    }
  }

  Overrides = [
    {
      Name = "dashboard"
      Namespace = "frontend"
      MeshGateway = {
        Mode = "remote"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

</Tab>
</Tabs>

## Available Fields

<ConfigEntryReference
  keys={[
    {
      name: 'apiVersion',
      description: 'Must be set to `consul.hashicorp.com/v1alpha1`',
      hcl: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'Kind',
      description: {
        hcl: 'Must be set to `service-defaults`',
        yaml: 'Must be set to `ServiceDefaults`',
      },
    },
    {
      name: 'Name',
      description: 'Set to the name of the service being configured.',
      type: 'string: <required>',
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'Namespace',
      type: `string: "default"`,
      enterprise: true,
      description: 'Specifies the namespace the config entry will apply to.',
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'Meta',
      type: 'map<string|string>: nil',
      description:
        'Specifies arbitrary KV metadata pairs. Added in Consul 1.8.4.',
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'metadata',
      children: [
        {
          name: 'name',
          description: 'Set to the name of the service being configured.',
        },
        {
          name: 'namespace',
          description:
            'If running Consul Open Source, the namespace is ignored (see [Kubernetes Namespaces in Consul OSS](/docs/k8s/crds#consul-oss)). If running Consul Enterprise see [Kubernetes Namespaces in Consul Enterprise](/docs/k8s/crds#consul-enterprise) for more details.',
        },
      ],
      hcl: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'Protocol',
      type: `string: "tcp"`,
      description: `Sets the protocol of the service. This is used
                      by Connect proxies for things like observability features and to unlock usage
                      of the [\`service-splitter\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-splitter) and
                      [\`service-router\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-router) config entries
                      for a service. It also unlocks the ability to define L7 intentions via
                      [\`service-intentions\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-intentions).
                      Supported values are one of \`tcp\`, \`http\`, \`http2\`, or \`grpc\`.`,
    },
    {
      name: 'Mode',
      type: `string: ""`,
      description: `One of \`direct\` or \`transparent\`. 
                    \`transparent\` represents that inbound and outbound application traffic is being 
                    captured and redirected through the proxy. This mode does not enable the traffic redirection
                     itself. Instead it signals Consul to configure Envoy as if traffic is already being redirected.
                    \`direct\` represents that the proxy's listeners must be dialed directly by the local 
                    application and other proxies.
                    Added in v1.10.0.`,
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'UpstreamConfig',
      type: 'UpstreamConfiguration: <optional>',
      description: `Controls default configuration settings that apply across all upstreams, and per-upstream
                    configuration overrides. Note that per-upstream configuration applies across all federated datacenters
                    to the pairing of source and upstream destination services. 
                    Added in v1.10.0.`,
      children: [
        {
          name: 'Overrides',
          type: 'array<UpstreamConfig>: []',
          description: `A list of optional overrides for per-upstream configuration.`,
          children: [
              {
                name: 'Name',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  'The upstream name to apply the configuration to.',
              },
              {
                name: 'Namespace',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  'The namespace of the upstream.',
              },
              {
                name: 'Protocol',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  `The protocol for the upstream listener.
                  
                  NOTE: The protocol of a service should ideally be configured via the
                    [\`protocol\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults#protocol)
                    field of a
                    [\`service-defaults\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults)
                    config entry for the upstream destination service. Configuring it in a
                    proxy upstream config will not fully enable some 
                    [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                    It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                  `,
              },
              {
                name: 'ConnectTimeoutMs',
                type: 'int: 5000',
                description:
                  `The number of milliseconds to allow when making upstream connections before timing out.
                  
                  NOTE: The connect timeout of a service should ideally be configured via the
                    [\`connect_timeout\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver#connecttimeout)
                    field of a
                    [\`service-resolver\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver)
                    config entry for the upstream destination service. 
                    Configuring it in a proxy upstream config will not fully enable some 
                    [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                    It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                  `,
              },
              {
                name: 'MeshGateway',
                type: 'MeshGatewayConfig: <optional>',
                description: `Controls the default
                  [mesh gateway configuration](/docs/connect/mesh-gateway#connect-proxy-configuration)
                  for this upstream.`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'Mode',
                    type: 'string: ""',
                    description: 'One of `none`, `local`, or `remote`.',
                  },
                ],
              },
              {
                name: 'Limits',
                type: 'Limits: <optional>',
                description: `A set of limits to apply when connecting to the upstream service.
                  These limits are applied on a per-service-instance basis. 
                  The following limits are respected.`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'MaxConnections',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of connections a service instance
                      will be allowed to establish against the given upstream. Use this to limit
                      HTTP/1.1 traffic, since HTTP/1.1 has a request per connection.`,
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxPendingRequests',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of requests that will be queued
                      while waiting for a connection to be established. For this configuration to
                      be respected, a L7 protocol must be defined in the \`protocol\` field.`,
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxConcurrentRequests',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of concurrent requests that
                      will be allowed at a single point in time. Use this to limit HTTP/2 traffic,
                      since HTTP/2 has many requests per connection. For this configuration to be
                      respected, a L7 protocol must be defined in the \`protocol\` field.`,
                  },
                ],
              },
              {
                name: 'PassiveHealthCheck',
                type: 'PassiveHealthCheck: <optional>',
                description: `Passive health checks are used to remove hosts from
                    the upstream cluster which are unreachable or are returning errors..`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'Interval',
                    type: 'duration: 0s',
                    description: `The time between checks. Each check will cause hosts which
                    have exceeded \`max_failures\` to be removed from the load balancer, and
                    any hosts which have passed their ejection time to be returned to the
                    load balancer.`,
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxFailures',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The number of consecutive failures which cause a host to be
                    removed from the load balancer.`,
                  },
                ],
              },
          ],
        },
        {
          name: 'Defaults',
          type: 'UpstreamConfig: <optional>',
          description: `Default configuration that applies to all upstreams of the given service.`,
          children: [
              {
                name: 'Name',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  'The upstream name to apply the configuration to.',
              },
              {
                name: 'Namespace',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  'The namespace of the upstream.',
              },
              {
                name: 'Protocol',
                type: 'string: ""',
                description:
                  `The protocol for the upstream listener.
                  
                  NOTE: The protocol of a service should ideally be configured via the
                    [\`protocol\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults#protocol)
                    field of a
                    [\`service-defaults\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-defaults)
                    config entry for the upstream destination service. Configuring it in a
                    proxy upstream config will not fully enable some 
                    [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                    It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                  `,
              },
              {
                name: 'ConnectTimeoutMs',
                type: 'int: 5000',
                description:
                  `The number of milliseconds to allow when making upstream connections before timing out.
                  
                  NOTE: The connect timeout of a service should ideally be configured via the
                    [\`connect_timeout\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver#connecttimeout)
                    field of a
                    [\`service-resolver\`](/docs/connect/config-entries/service-resolver)
                    config entry for the upstream destination service. 
                    Configuring it in a proxy upstream config will not fully enable some 
                    [L7 features](/docs/connect/l7-traffic-management).
                    It is supported here for backwards compatibility with Consul versions prior to 1.6.0.
                  `,
              },
              {
                name: 'MeshGateway',
                type: 'MeshGatewayConfig: <optional>',
                description: `Controls the default
                  [mesh gateway configuration](/docs/connect/mesh-gateway#connect-proxy-configuration)
                  for this upstream.`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'Mode',
                    type: 'string: ""',
                    description: 'One of `none`, `local`, or `remote`.',
                  },
                ],
              },
              {
                name: 'Limits',
                type: 'Limits: <optional>',
                description: `A set of limits to apply when connecting to the upstream service.
                  These limits are applied on a per-service-instance basis. 
                  The following limits are respected.`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'MaxConnections',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of connections a service instance
                      will be allowed to establish against the given upstream. Use this to limit
                      HTTP/1.1 traffic, since HTTP/1.1 has a request per connection.`,
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxPendingRequests',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of requests that will be queued
                      while waiting for a connection to be established. For this configuration to
                      be respected, a L7 protocol must be defined in the \`protocol\` field.`,
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxConcurrentRequests',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The maximum number of concurrent requests that
                      will be allowed at a single point in time. Use this to limit HTTP/2 traffic,
                      since HTTP/2 has many requests per connection. For this configuration to be
                      respected, a L7 protocol must be defined in the \`protocol\` field.`,
                  },
                ],
              },
              {
                name: 'PassiveHealthCheck',
                type: 'PassiveHealthCheck: <optional>',
                description: `Passive health checks are used to remove hosts from
                    the upstream cluster which are unreachable or are returning errors..`,
                children: [
                  {
                    name: 'Interval',
                    type: 'duration: 0s',
                    description: `The time between checks. Each check will cause hosts which
                    have exceeded \`max_failures\` to be removed from the load balancer, and
                    any hosts which have passed their ejection time to be returned to the
                    load balancer.`,
                  },
                  {
                    name: 'MaxFailures',
                    type: 'int: 0',
                    description: `The number of consecutive failures which cause a host to be
                    removed from the load balancer.`,
                  },
                ],
              },
          ],
        },        
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'TransparentProxy',
      type: 'TransparentProxyConfig: <optional>',
      description: `Controls configuration specific to proxies in transparent mode. Added in v1.10.0.`,
      children: [
        {
          name: 'OutboundListenerPort',
          type: 'int: "15001"',
          description: `The port the proxy should listen on for outbound traffic. This must be the port where 
                        outbound application traffic is redirected to.`,
        },
      ],
      yaml: false,
    },
    {
      name: 'MeshGateway',
      type: 'MeshGatewayConfig: <optional>',
      description: `Controls the default
      [mesh gateway configuration](/docs/connect/mesh-gateway#connect-proxy-configuration)
      for this service. Added in v1.6.0.`,
      children: [
        {
          name: 'Mode',
          type: 'string: ""',
          description: 'One of `none`, `local`, or `remote`.',
        },
      ],
    },
    {
      name: 'ExternalSNI',
      type: 'string: ""',
      description: `This is an optional setting that allows for
                      the TLS [SNI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication) value to
                      be changed to a non-connect value when federating with an external system.
                      Added in v1.6.0.`,
    },
    {
      name: 'Expose',
      type: 'ExposeConfig: <optional>',
      description: `Controls the default
                      [expose path configuration](/docs/connect/registration/service-registration#expose-paths-configuration-reference)
                      for Envoy. Added in v1.6.2.<br><br>
                      Exposing paths through Envoy enables a service to protect itself by only listening on localhost, while still allowing
                      non-Connect-enabled applications to contact an HTTP endpoint.
                      Some examples include: exposing a \`/metrics\` path for Prometheus or \`/healthz\` for kubelet liveness checks.`,
      children: [
        {
          name: 'Checks',
          type: 'bool: false',
          description: `If enabled, all HTTP and gRPC checks registered with the agent are exposed through Envoy.
        Envoy will expose listeners for these checks and will only accept connections originating from localhost or Consul's
        [advertise address](/docs/agent/options#advertise). The port for these listeners are dynamically allocated from
        [expose_min_port](/docs/agent/options#expose_min_port) to [expose_max_port](/docs/agent/options#expose_max_port).
        This flag is useful when a Consul client cannot reach registered services over localhost. One example is when running
        Consul on Kubernetes, and Consul agents run in their own pods.`,
        },
        {
          name: 'Paths',
          type: 'array<Path>: []',
          description: 'A list of paths to expose through Envoy.',
          children: [
            {
              name: 'Path',
              type: 'string: ""',
              description:
                'The HTTP path to expose. The path must be prefixed by a slash. ie: `/metrics`.',
            },
            {
              name: 'LocalPathPort',
              type: 'int: 0',
              description:
                'The port where the local service is listening for connections to the path.',
            },
            {
              name: 'ListenerPort',
              type: 'int: 0',
              description: `The port where the proxy will listen for connections. This port must be available
           for the listener to be set up. If the port is not free then Envoy will not expose a listener for the path,
           but the proxy registration will not fail.`,
            },
            {
              name: 'Protocol',
              type: 'string: "http"',
              description:
                'Sets the protocol of the listener. One of `http` or `http2`. For gRPC use `http2`.',
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
  ]}
/>

## ACLs

Configuration entries may be protected by [ACLs](/docs/security/acl).

Reading a `service-defaults` config entry requires `service:read` on the resource.

Creating, updating, or deleting a `service-defaults` config entry requires
`service:write` on the resource.
